Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 297
— Part III 290 When archaeologists dig for the past buried remains, they can uncover things that happened millions or even billions of years ago and can hear the unworded tale they tell of the time when they were fossilised. This unravelling of their tales is not yet over. As man progresses, more of the past will continue to dawn upon him. Even those animals who have become extinct have left a complete fossilised record in their skeletons about the age when they were fossilised. Students of archaeology can read many minute details of the nature of the animal; the diseases it suffered from, its potentials, its capabilities and incapabilities, how fast it could run, how tall it was and what was the nature of its food. Was it carnivorous or herbivorous? What was the nature of its habits—was it brave or cowardly, intelligent or stupid? Thus the animals inhabiting the globe, the way they moved about and rested, and their mode of life are gradually being uncovered, long after they perished (in some cases billions of years later), providing a complete life history. Similarly, human fossils of the comparatively near past are subjected to minute scientific studies and the scientists can assert with great authority that a fossil of a certain dead person can reveal the minutest detail of the disease which caused his death. For instance, it can be ascertained if the death was caused by some venereal disease such as syphilis or gonorrh-